King Gustav II was a military commander and commissioned the building of the Vasa ship. Gustav wanted to take control of the Baltic Sea. It was built in the Dutch tradition.
It took only two years to build and is made of oak.
Vasa was under water for 333 years. It is the best preserved ship of the 1600’s. Sweden was warring with Poland at the time. Sweden was a military state and put most of their money into warfare. It was very cold here and was referred to as the little ice age. People were starving.
The Vasa was an embarrassing disaster for Sweden since it sank 20 minutes into its maiden voyage in front of hundreds of horrified onlookers. However, today it is the most visited site in Sweden.
Since it sank close to land, casualties were low. With 250 on board, only 30 died. Stockholm didn’t want to talk about it. They tried to raise the ship, but didn’t have the technology to do so.
This ship had a lot of innovation such as two gun decks. The King was heavily involved with its design.
We learn from our failures. The next ship was wider to hold more ballast and the gun portals were put up higher away from the water.
In 1956, the ship was rediscovered and located. (Didn’t they know where it was?) It was 100 feet deep and under 15 feet of mud. Due to the dark, cold, and brackish water in the Baltic Sea, shipworms weren’t present to attack the wood. Recovery started in 1961. Then it took 30 years to get the ship ready for the museum.
Then polyethylene glycol was applied for 13 years. Today the museum is kept cold and dark under high humidity to continue to preserve the ship.
The ship is shrinking 1 millimeter/year. One cannot board because it is too fragile.
After our visit, we ate at a sandwich shop that boasted the world’s best grilled cheese. (How can we pass on that!?!) It was a triple Decker like a grilled cheese club sandwich.
Unfortunately, the birds agreed that it was delicious, and when Rob went to get napkins, a magpie swooped down and tried to take his sandwich. I let out a scream and shooed him away.
We decided to go back in time even further and checked out the Viking exhibit at the Swedish History Museum.
It starts out with a walkable timeline to follow on the floor. I was amused by the smells of days gone by which one could experience by squeezing the bulbs to produce the aroma.
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